I want to say that I am not promoting credit card use if you cannot pay off your balance in full every single month so that you are not paying any interest.
Tip Number : 1
which is to put everything you can on your credit card. This includes very large purchases to very small purchases. I use my credit card for everything possible that I can.
When I go to the grocery store, I will pay for my groceries with my credit card. When I go to the gas station, I will for sure use my credit card there. And then also for fixed monthly payments that I have. For example, my internet bill and my water and sewer bill. I definitely use my credit card for those types of bills.
So think about all of the different purchases that you have made with cash or with your debit card and take a second and find out if you can use a credit card for those purchases. There are multiple reasons for doing this. But there are three main reasons that I want to mention in this article on why I use my credit card for everything possible. Reason number one is because I have credit cards that have cash back on them.
So I’m earning rewards every time I spend money on my credit card. So the more money I am spending on my credit card, the more cash back I am earning. And that said, I am not spending extra money just to earn the cash back rewards because it is a very small percentage. So it’s not worth it for me to just spend extra money all of the time to earn a little bit of a reward. But if I’m already making those purchases, why not put them on my credit card to earn as many rewards as I can?
The second reason I want to talk about using my credit card for everything possible is because it boosts your credit score. Essentially, when you’re making a purchase on your credit card that is going to get reported to the credit bureaus and it will boost your credit score if they can see you are using your credit card often and paying it off in full every month. If you are not using your credit cards properly, this is not going to help your credit score.
Comment below and tell me if you are already using your credit cards for as many purchases as possible. The third reason I want to mention in today’s article that I like using my credit cards for everything possible is because if you have fraudulent charges on your credit card, they get taken care of very quickly and very easily. But if you have fraudulent charges on your debit card, your account will be frozen and you may be responsible for that amount of cash that was spent on your debit card for a time until they can figure out that you did not actually make that charge. By using your credit card, your account is not frozen. They will send you a new credit card very quickly because they still want you to use their credit card and they take care of the fraudulent charges immediately so your funds aren’t frozen, you have access to your money.
And when this happened to me, actually fairly recently, my credit card company told me I could still use that same credit card in store, but just not online while they were sending me a new credit card, which I thought was pretty cool. And that was my Discover it card. And I will leave links below for my favorite credit cards in case you are interested in getting a new credit card. All right,
Tip Number : 2
The second tip I want to share with you is pretty awesome and I feel like a lot of people don’t know about this tip. And this is if you are making a large purchase and you want to put it on your credit card, call your credit card company ahead of time and ask them if they will give you a 0% interest rate for twelve months.
That is exactly what I did. I was purchasing a lot of flooring because I was doing my townhouse, my rental and then the property that I live in now. I was redoing all of the flooring, so I was going to make a really large purchase on my credit card. So I called my Discover Card, that’s what I was using and asked if they would give me a 0% interest for twelve months and they said yes. So I was able to make the purchase for my flooring and then have more time to pay it off without paying any interest.
Tip Number : 3
And then my third tip for using credit cards and getting the most out of them is that if you aren’t able to get that 0% interest from your current credit card company, then you could sign up for a new credit card, just make sure that it has a sign up bonus and that they are offering 0% interest for twelve to 18 months. That way when you are making that large purchase for flooring or whatever it is, then you can get a sign up bonus and have that 0% interest. And with different credit cards they’re going to have different amounts for sign up bonuses. They’ll usually have you spend a certain amount within a certain time frame. For example, I recently signed up for a business credit card and I had to spend $4,000 within three months.
But then I would receive a $700 sign up bonus. So for me that was totally worth it because I was making some large purchases anyway. And by opening that new credit card I was able to get $700 back on my four grand purchase that I was going to make anyway. And it doesn’t just have to be one large purchase, it’s any purchase you make within that first three months. And just a little bonus tip for you if you don’t think you are going to spend that full amount within the certain time frame they are giving you to get that sign up bonus, then you could always buy a gift card to somewhere you are already going to be spending money.
If you do your grocery shopping at Smith. For example, you could buy a Smith’s gift card on your credit card since you would be spending that money later anyway. Or you could even do a Target or Walmart gift card if you shop there more often or even Amazon. And once again, I don’t want you buying a gift card to somewhere you are not going to use that gift card.
Tip Number : 4
And then tip number four is to make sure and get a credit card that has some type of cash back rewards or even miles that you could receive depending on what works best for you.
Make sure there is some type of bonus that you are getting by using that credit card because there are plenty of credit cards out there with cash back rewards or sky miles. Make sure you are taking advantage of that. For example, some credit cards just have a one and a half percent cash back on every single purchase and then other ones do rotating categories. So for three months you could get 5% cash back on gasoline and then the next three months you could get 5% cash back on your Amazon purchases or things like that. So find a credit card that works best for your spending habits.
One credit card that I signed up for pretty recently was the Venmo credit card because they offer 3% cash back on certain categories. That’s a pretty high cash back. So I ended up opening that credit card and they were doing a sign up bonus at the same time. So I got that sign up bonus and now I can get 3% cash back on some of my purchases. Just make sure to read the fine print so you know exactly what you can and cannot get cash back on.
Tip Number : 5
And then credit card hack number five is to get double rewards. And this works well if you are spending a lot of money on your credit cards. But essentially if you are usually getting a statement credit for your cash back that you are earning, you could actually have a check sent to you or have that credit directly deposited into your checking account from your credit card. And that way how much ever you received into your checking account from your credit card, you can spend that amount again on your credit card and then be getting even more rewards back from your credit card and then you can pay it off with that amount that was in your checking account sent there from your credit card.
Tip Number : 6
And then credit card hack number six is to pay off your balance before the statement closing date if you want to have a little boost in your credit score.
For example. If you are looking to buy a home pretty soon and you want your credit score to be as high as possible. If you pay off that credit card balance before that statement date. Then on the statement date it gets reported to the credit bureau but because you’ve already paid it off. Then it shows a zero balance which means your debt to income ratio will be a little bit better pushing up your credit score.
Tip Number : 7
And then credit card hack number seven is if you are married then each of you could sign up for your own credit card instead of just getting an extra card for the same account for the other spouse because you can both get that sign up bonus if you are both signing up for that credit card. And since all of us probably are not married, I’m going to include another tip with this one. I’ve heard of certain credit cards that will offer a bonus if you add someone to your credit card. So when you add them to your credit card, you’ll get that bonus.
Not only that, if you have good credit that will help build up the other person’s credit that you are adding to your credit card. So that’s a little tip inside of a tip and then tip number nine to getting the most out of your credit cards. If you have a business credit card and you are earning miles on that credit card, don’t use it for your business trips, use it for your personal trips because you can write off your business trips on your taxes. So if you’re already going to be taking a personal trip, then use those rewards for that and that way you can get a deduction on your taxes. And that’s only if you are already going to be taking those trips.
